the way the guy winds up in the hammer video...looks like if you had a spear you could gut him much quicker than he could smash you...the chinese war sword is kinda cool...wonder what it does against a steel rimmed shield...now that would look cool to see a guy wang this blade off a real shield and see how much the blade and shield are damaged

the way the guy winds up in the hammer video...looks like if you had a spear you could gut him much quicker than he could smash you...the chinese war sword is kinda cool...wonder what it does against a steel rimmed shield...now that would look cool to see a guy wang this blade off a real shield and see how much the blade and shield are damaged

Yes, the interrelations between various protective items and different weapons can get quite complex and interesting, and there has been a technological race between weapon and armor design throughout history.

I've been reading and thinking about such things lately, and I believe I've devised simple ways to include some of these factors.

Examples:

1. certain weapons are better against certain forms of armor. A blunt weapon is more effective than a bow against heavily armored opponents, and vice versa--just as in real life. Historically, maces and war hammers gained in popularity when rigid armor was becoming more effective; two-handed weapon use by knights coincided with the disappearance of the shield due to armor improvement. In Mailed Fist™, weapons are designated blunt, edged, or impaling (or a combination). The target's armor rating (AR) reduces all damage, but PR reduces only penetration damage (i.e., from edged and impaling weapons). Edged penetration damage is doubled (i.e., if it gets past AR and PR); impaling weapons incapacitate if triple the penetrating damage is sufficient to incapacitate a healthy foe. Blunt weapons generally inflict more base damage and can thus get through AR more easily, but they lack the damage multiplication of penetrating attacks.

2. strong characters vs. parrying or blocking defenders can use STR instead of DEX in their attack rolls (an attack roll ~ a D&D "to hit" roll). Thus, it is somewhat riskier to try to parry or block a giant swinging a tree trunk.